Tag Archives: music nashville

In an age when etiquette and courtesy is dwindling while rudeness and arrogance is raging (especially on the freeways!), it’s now even more important to show respect for others, even when they may not. Doing so makes you stand out these days (which is sad – have we become that desensitized to rudeness and bad behavior?). The following media interview tips include ways to show proper…

I have been having an ongoing discussion with a friend of mine recently, and it mirrors something I have thought about many times over the past few years. It is: Can you teach someone how to write a song? This friend is the mother of two very good songwriters – successful artists. She says songwriting is an innate talent – and the process of the struggle is a self inflicted and absolutely necessary…

I’ve been critiquing songs for a film and TV listing at Taxi lately and it got me to thinking about some specific similarities and differences in what music supervisors are usually looking for, and the differences between that side of the business and pitching to publishers and / or artists after radio type songs. First off, they are not mutually exclusive, in fact there can be more similarities than…

Part of doing media interviews includes doing phoners with radio stations. There are certain things an artist can do in a phoner to maximize the opportunity of the interview to make it flow better despite the absence of a face-to-face interaction with the DJ. 1. Try to use a land line whenever possible. There is always that awkward delay that occurs when using a cell, which often causes…

In this series of articles I have walked a line between straight technical information and the more creative aspects of songwriting. This article is going address both issues from a slightly different perspective – is your desire for a career in the music business a dream or a delusion? Very often in consultations with students or people starting out in the business they will ask me a variation of…

When it comes to doing interviews with the media, one of the most commonly asked questions is “Who are your musical influences?” This question is also asked in talent competitions, various auditions, and many label meetings. When I judge talent competitions or do mock media interviews with my clients, there is one thing I personally am looking for when I ask this question. I want to see how…

It was something that Ronnie Milsap had been hearing from his fans for a while, and then a conversation with good friend and award-winning air personality Eddie Stubbs brought it home. “Quite often, I’ll go over there to WSM and sit with him at night while he’s talking to 38 states and parts of Canada. He, as well as a lot of my fans were asking me when I was going to make another Country album.” Milsap wondered about the commercial viability …

Last week, we gave you a little bit of an overview of the Summer Oil Patch Festival, one of the top rising Country Music events in America. Next week, we will chat with one of the performers that were at the festival, but the success of the event, produced by Rick and Myrna Sellers and Clif Doyal has other ingredients than just music. Did I say the word ingredients? That’s a nice segue-way, if I do type so myself……

It’s hard to believe, but the Marshall Tucker Band will be celebrating forty years as a band next year. That’s the kind of long-term success worth celebrating. Though some of the members have come and gone, original keyboard player and vocalist Doug Gray is still there, keeping the tradition alive. On this disc, a collection of some of the band’s best works over the years, the songs you know and love are here….

Ok, let me see if I get this right. According to their website, Kansas-bred, Texas-based Back Porch Mary is a “Country Rock Hillbilly Punk Band.” Sure, that’s an easy description to get! So, needless to say, this band is not one that you can easily put in a little 4 + 4 box. Those styles are all fully represented here, but they are done so in such a way that they are able to mix them all up into an interesting….

Sometimes, Texas or Roots-related artists are long on attitude, but short on talent. Bo Phillips is not one of them. The guy can actually sing, and do it well. That’s not to say that he doesn’t have a little bit of a rebel side to him, but listen to the way he handles a love song like “Never” or “Love Like That.” His vocal style will very much impress you.
At the same time, sure, there’s a little bit of free wheeling sounds……

Billy Yates has long been revered as one of Nashville’s best tunesmiths for a long time, best known for penning the Grammy-winning “Choices” for George Jones in 1999. At least that’s the story here in the states, but go overseas, and you will find a fan reaction to Yates’ music as strong as anything on Contemporary Country radio here. Hopefully, Americans will eventually realize just what a talented performer Yates is……

I’m going to let you in on a inside secret that maybe I shouldn’t. Sometimes, the longer a review is, the better the record. That would stand to reason, wouldn’t it? That being said, every now and then, you come across a recording like this. The more words I write, the longer it takes you to find out for yourself. I will say this is not Ricky Skaggs’s most recent work. It actually came out last year. However, for some reason…..

When people I meet ask me what I do and I indicate that one of my services is media coaching for recording artists, the overwhelming response from music industry leaders is, “Oh that is SO needed!” Yet, many artists or their team (managers, label, publicists, radio promoters, etc.) don’t make this a priority, even though they understand the importance of it. For those artists and their team who…

Through his career, Ronnie Milsap has had success with many different styles of Country. In the early 1980s, for instance, his music was heard as much on AC stations as it was in the Country format. That being said, if you go back and listen to his early work for RCA, you would find such traditional sounding fare as “Just In Case” or one of my favorite singles of all time, “That Girl Who Waits On Tables…..